The primary focus of our Environmental Protection program for India was the following:
· To obtain an overview of public-private partnership in addressing environmental issues;
· To address the need for wildlife preservation;
· To learn about best practices and techniques for sustaining the environment as implemented at the federal, state, and local levels;
· To examine how business and science cooperate and address competing challenges in efforts to preserve the environment;
· To learn about programs to sensitize industries, communities, and citizens to the necessity of protecting the environment.
To begin their schedule of appointments in Pensacola, our visitors met with staff for a program orientation. Next, they met with Steve Jordan, Research Ecologist at the Gulf Ecology Division of the Environmental Protection Agency, to receive an introduction to the area’s rich environment. After lunch in downtown, the group met with Dorothy Kaufmann, Director of the Northwest Florida Wildlife Sanctuary, to hear about her expertise with vultures and vulture care. Later that day, Executive Editor of the Pensacola News Journal, Richard Schneider, answered their questions regarding environmental journalism in northwest Florida.
On the second day of appointments, our delegation met with Tim Day, Environmental Programs Manager in Water Quality and Land Management for Escambia County, to learn about restoration and remediation efforts in the county. After that, Mollye Barrows at WEAR Television welcomed them to a tour the studio and to observe the afternoon broadcast of the local news.
The following day the group traveled to Milton to meet with Vernon Compton at the Nature Conservancy to hear about their public-private partnership with Eglin Air Force Base and the various challenges and accomplishments they have had during this arrangement. Their schedule next called for a canoe trip down Blackwater River with intern Charla Hough which gave them the opportunity to see some of the countryside and explore ecotourism efforts in northwest Florida.
Thank you to everyone who participated in this program.
